A Little Yarn On The Side

Not that the ribbed yoke sweater has exactly won , but it hasn't exactly lost either.  We have, for the moment, declared a truce and are ignoring each other's existence. However, I did have some crafting time this weekend and thought I might spend it with the Kimono Shawl but someone beat me to it.  And let's face it, I am never that cute while knitting, so I let Theo have it for the day and went digging in the WIP bin.  I started this sometime last year, and the body just needed a few inches on the body, which I finished with NO frogging, swearing, or re-editing of a pattern (which made a refreshing change) and I have started a sleeve!  It's a simple pattern and will make great portable knitting, so it is the current favorite project, but it's going to take a little while to finish, and I was in need of some instant gratification, so I finished a few more towels (Obviously, I'm loving this design), and cut out and embroidered some felt gift ba...

--and I am taking the coward's way out. Sort of. I was all set to do battle with the ribbed yoke pullover, but we are having some friends over for dinner tonight, and I didn't think receiving another ass-whooping by a bunch of superwash would put me in the best frame of mind for entertaining, so I have chosen a safer route today. Sewing a few seams on the pullover and a couple pattern repeats on the kimono shawl which recently celebrated it's second birthday without yet being finished. Of course, it isn't actually the oldest WIP--there's a shawl on size 0 needles that just turned 5, but that is a bit more understandable. I mean, size zero needles? I'll be finishing that one the day I file for Social Security...provided my eye sight is still good and knitting hasn't finally snapped whatever will be left of my brain after the ribbed yoke pullover....

How did that happen? So, um, about the September Project of the Month.... It's not so much "finished." More along the lines of "never started" if we want to be technical and everything . I did round up all the cardboard & empty toilet paper tubes to make it, and there was a point last week when I could have sat down to finish it, but then I realized that I don't currently need it for a gift, and by next Christmas all of the cardboard would be bent or crushed. So, feeling guilty and thinking I should finish SOMETHING in September--and it obviously wasn't the sweater-that-shall-not-be-named, I dug out the Christmas blankets I made earlier this year and thought I would put the names on them. To say Theo was excited to be sewing again would be a huge understatement. He was purring and purring and I didn't have the heart to move him, so I decided to embroider a few more gift towels. OK, fine. I decided to grab the fleece blankets then. If I had...

For its own protection the yoke sweater, currently referred to as the-sweater-that-shall-not-be-named, has been moved into a secure facility where a frustrated knitter armed with scissors cannot get at it.

BOB : Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to tonight's episode of Iron Knitter, the new reality knitting show where w e give our unsuspecting knitter a completely messed up pattern which she must fix without any help from the original designer. Tonight's pattern, the notorious Yoke Pullover , has a cleverly concealed big floppy neck that, while perfect for a two-headed knitter, has driven most other knitters completely crazy. The designer was careful to NOT knit the yoke in the round to ensure that the unsuspecting knitter will not realize how floppy the neck is until she has actually finished knitting ALL the pieces AND sewing them together. A true masterpiece of sadistic design, wouldn't you agree Dave? DAVE: Absolutely Bob. It's a rare occasion when we can find a pattern that can so cleverly hide its "gotcha" moment even in a photograph. See how the model's hair completely covers the floppiness of the neck? True brilliance. We're dealing wit...

One knitter, driven to a WIP-finishing frenzy by a double dog dare, One sweater with a neck only the designer could love, Two cats who have resolved that knitting is at least better than canning...... Tune in tomorrow for the yoke sweater showdown..... Reality Knitting. I think it could be BIG, and I'm not just talking about that darn yoke.

Between a barrage of rodent gifts yesterday--and by the way, I am the leading mouser here at Chateau Sutton-Goar--and making a roasted tomato-chipotle salsa today, I have only had little snatches of time for knitting here & there, which doesn't work for "fussy" projects such as redesigning a sweater. So, since it is now "fall" here--or at least in the mornings--I dug out the Kauni cardigan to work on. I love this sweater & it only got moved to the Project Timeout Bin because wool is just too warm to knit with during the summer, so we're still on good terms. I got a few rounds done and was closing in on the divide for the neck and ran into an issue with a splice. Normally, I get really irritated with splices in the middle of balls of yarn, but these balls are MASSIVE and I have almost completed the entire body with the original 2 balls of yarn. I was at a spot in the pattern where I could start the new color on a stripe, so I cut out a bit, backe...